


Ain’t Easy For a Rabbit

by Liz7



Category: Coonskin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:33:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24767797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liz7/pseuds/Liz7
Summary: After his marriage ceremony arranged by Fox goes wrong, Rabbit decides to confront his inner demons.
Kudos: 1





	Ain’t Easy For a Rabbit

For the first time since he could remember, Rabbit felt nervous. He struggled not to let it show on his face as his eyes roved over the seated crowd.

The congregation.

He tried searching for a familiar face, a face he wanted to see. He spotted Savior’s men planted here and there among the crowd. 

Rabbit gritted his teeth. He thought he would get them off his back, but the smirking men seemed to pop up everywhere he went, searching him for any kind of weakness. Even after he and his brothers had taken over the crime racket in Harlem four months ago, the men still hadn’t truly accepted Rabbit as their new leader. 

Well, who could blame them? Rabbit reflected as he locked eyes with one of the men for a brief moment. Take away his fancy suit and his street-smarts, Rabbit was merely a rabbit after all.

Which made this marriage Preacher Fox arranged for him a major headscratcher. 

Rabbit repressed a shudder with great difficulty. Fox didn’t bother to give him a chance to meet his new bride, which meant something was up. But a voice in the back of his head reminded him of Bear’s girl Pearl. She was lovely, so that meant Fox could hook Rabbit up the same way, too.

Right?

Rabbit erased the hopeful thoughts from his brain, positive they must have shown on his face. He checked the crowd again. 

Thank you, Jesus. It was the same sea of excited and some bored dark faces. They were in Fox’s church that Sunday for a show.  
Well, Rabbit decided, a show he will give them. He locked his eyes with another of Savior’s old men—Bill Sanders, the one who had threatened to kill Rabbit if he had failed to take over Harlem.

Bill flashed Rabbit a patronizing grin as he held up his camera. 

Rabbit shook his head at him. There was nothing he hated more than taking pictures. Especially if he had to smile in them.

Suddenly, the double doors leading to the long red aisle slammed open.  
There was a huge intake of breath from the audience. Could it be the bride?

Rabbit inhaled through his nose. No matter what the mystery girl looked like, personality had to win out above all else. He’d often noped out of a potential relationship whenever the girl turned out to be not so sweet or was too smart for her own good. 

It seemed like every girl he encountered was like that.

Men on the other hand—,

Uh-oh. Before he stopped himself, heat crept up onto Rabbit’s cheeks. He stuffed his hand into his new suit pockets and ducked his head for a brief moment. 

That turned out to be a huge mistake.

Rabbit tried not to cringe as he heard two flashes of a camera on him.

He promised himself to kill Bill after this ceremony was over.

Rabbit’s ears pricked up at the uproarious sound of laughter from the audience. Raising his head cautiously, he glanced at the empty doors.

There was no bride. Only Fox stumbled in, his violet preacher clothes stained of liquor and urine.  
Rabbit clicked his tongue irritably. If only Bear didn’t get annoyed by Preacher Fox so easily. He would have talked him out of getting drunk before legally binding Rabbit to a mystery woman. He would have drove here with Pearl tagging along and sat at the front of the congregation, making sure both Fox and Rabbit behaved themselves.

But now, Bear stuck on his word that he was done with Fox’s schemes. And when Bear put his mind on something, there was no turning him back.  
Rabbit averted his gaze away from Fox tripping over his own feet and crawling to the podium. 

Look at anything but Preacher Fox, dammit.

The small, beady-eyed creature breathed out a sigh of relief and mumbled incoherently when he finally reached the podium. He hacked a cough into the new microphone Rabbit’s men had installed for him, making half of the audience wince and shift uncomfortably in their seats. 

“My bad, y’all. Hope y’all doing well. I know I is. Why, just this morning…,”

The rest of Fox’s ramble about him miraculously helping a prostitute to convert to Christianity was lost to Rabbit’s ears. His eyes became fixated on a man sitting at the back of the congregation, seemingly detached from the rest. 

There was something about him that made Rabbit blush and turned his insides to ice. 

He was certainly well-dressed. Too well-dressed for a wedding housed at Fox’s church.

Even from standing at the altar, Rabbit could catch the glint of those golden cuff links the man was wearing with his black tux.

Another strange thing about the man was the heavy shades covering half of his face. No one else in the crowd was wearing any of that sort.  
Something hardened inside of Rabbit amid the confusion. This man had no business to be doing inside of here.

What role did Fox play in all of this?

His rambling of a speech finally coming to an end, Fox touched Rabbit’s shoulder.

“Now, now. Where was I again, Rabbit? Oh, yeah. Never mind. I remembered. You’ve come to finally get baptized, dija?” Fox grinned.

Rabbit sighed. “No,” he answered testily. “You told me to come here to get married, remember? Or are you too drunk off your ass?”

Fox blinked. Then he let out a hoot of laughter. “You’ve changed your mind, eh Rabbit? Decided to have an open mind for once? Well, hell! Bring in my Bible, Terry! The Black Rabbit wants his wife and so he shall haves her!”

A dwarf of a man trotted up to the podium and carefully handed Fox the ratty Holy Bible.

“Ah, thank you. Now, where was I… where’s the bride? Bring in Angela!” Fox barked. 

“Mista, the gal’s Angeline,” Terry supplied helpfully.

Fox winked at the dwarf. “Course, I already knew that.”

“Aw, shit! Stupid heel!” a young woman cursed outside.

The tiny bit of hope Rabbit allowed himself to have vanquished completely. 

His supposed bride stormed in the room barefoot, her high heels clutched in a gloved fist. 

Rabbit squinted to see what she looked like underneath her veil, but it obscured all of her features.  
What game was Fox playing with him?

Panting, the furious woman flounced to Rabbit’s side. “I’m ready for my vows!” she sang. “Hurry it up so I can go get my pedi that’s scheduled in five minutes!”

Rabbit shot Fox a glare then returned his eyes to his new bride. “And if you shut your mouth, then maybe we’ll get you there in two minutes,” he answered cooly. 

The woman folded her arms defiantly. “Make it one,” she snarled. “You don’t tell me what to do.”

Rabbit exchanged another look with Fox. 

“One minute!” Fox whooped. “Shit, girl. I can say the vows in one second.”

Angeline pointed at the broken clock above the Preacher’s head. “The clock is ticking,” she snapped. “And you better—,”

Before she finished her threat, Rabbit lifted off her veil and gave her a long, chaste kiss on the lips.

No emotion stirred in his chest as he did the action. Nor had it did before with other girls he was with.

The longest relationship Rabbit ever had with a girl lasted about a week or two.

If it were up to him, he’d leave the dating pool entirely. Every girl he had met before and while living in Harlem seemed to be all the same.

When he pulled away from Angeline, Rabbit faced the uncertain applause and cheers of the audience. 

“Now you can go get your toes done,” Rabbit said indifferently, looking at his bride fully.   
His white human bride.

He raised his eyebrows at her. She made no move to leave and there was no mistaking the brightness of her cheeks, making the rouge heavily painted on them darker.

“Um, perhaps I should cancel my appointment?” Angeline stammered, giggling nervously.

Rabbit glared at her. Why would she giggle after she had complained so vehemently? Perhaps white chicks were crazy, after all.

Fox slowly backed away from the podium until he rested his hand on the emergency lever. “No need to worry about that, girlie! Old Fox here gots everything covered!” he chuckled, sensing Rabbit’s dislike of Angeline.

Before Rabbit could snap at him, the floor opened underneath his feet. He plummeted down into darkness, too stunned to scream. How couldn’t he have foreseen this?

Finally, he landed on a soft surface with a gentle thump. 

Threats of vengeance coursing through his head, Rabbit scowled up at the hole of light. 

Another one opened, followed by a happy shriek. Angeline landed gracefully next to Rabbit, rolling around in hysterics.

Ignoring her, Rabbit surveyed around the room. 

The surface they were lying on was a heart-shaped bed. 

Rabbit couldn’t make out any of the objects in the half-lit love-making room. 

A strange, musky scent clung to his nostrils. 

He hoped he would get this over with so he could make his escape.  
Rabbit flinched as he felt a finger prod his back.

“H-hey,” Angeline snickered. “You’re naked, Brother Rabbit. I never saw you naked before.”

Rabbit exhaled as he rubbed his head tiredly. 

What was the point of this matchmaking business if he didn’t truly feel attracted to the people he was with? 

He knew for certain that Angeline wouldn’t be the one from the moment she stomped up to him.

First impressions could make or break a potential relationship, Rabbit knew. 

He gritted his teeth as Angeline pressed her naked bosom into him.

Tonight, Rabbit would set his foot down and tell Fox to stop trying to hook him up with crazy women like Angeline. Or just women in general. If he had a problem with that, that would be his prerogative.

In one swift move, Rabbit pushed Angeline off of the bed.

The young woman fell down on her back, hard. “What’s wrong with you?” she snapped.

Rabbit set his jaw. “Put your clothes back on,” he replied calmly, though he was trembling all over. “And if you lay a finger on me, I’ll cut it off.”

Angeline scoffed as she struggled to sit up. “Ooh, I’m so afraid of the bunny. Oh, come off it, why don’t you? We’re stuck here unless you sleep with me. That Preacher won’t pay me.” Suddenly a pleading note crept onto her nasally voice and she scrambled back onto the bed. “Plus, I really need that pedi. My toes haven’t been done in, what, a month? I can’t wait that long, sir!”  
Rabbit cautiously moved away from her, not sure what her true motives were. “I’m sorry to hear that,” he said, not sounding apologetic at all. “And what’s the deal with you suddenly calling me ‘sir’?”

Choosing not to answer his question, Angeline instead prattled on and on about how hideous and cracked the soles of her feet felt whenever they were not treated properly. 

Rabbit felt his eyelids droop a little, but he forced himself to stay awake. How can someone talk for ages and not have something of value to say? 

That was part of the reason why he kept quiet at conversations, no matter how many times Fox or even Bear tried to rope him in. The affairs of other people had never interested Rabbit very much. He was too preoccupied with his own, which seemed to be getting increasingly complicated each day. Or so it seemed whenever Savior’s old men had delivered Rabbit news. Maybe they just enjoyed making him squirm.

Rabbit grew aware of a sudden touch on his wrist, snatching him back to the present. He yanked it away from Angeline, avoiding her searching gaze. “I thought I told you not to touch me,” he growled.

Angeline leaned back on her heels, satisfied at getting a reaction out of him. “Sorry. I just thought since we’re now husband and wife…,” she trailed off meaningfully, waiting for Rabbit to fill in the blanks.

Rabbit exhaled slowly. He wouldn’t give her that satisfaction. That was what he had to learn from dealing with Miss America. 

Conceal your emotions. Keep a clear head when she gives you any special favors. Act aloof when she speaks with you.

“You know I’m not your husband, right?” Rabbit asked, stretching out against the pillows luxuriously. 

Angeline raised an eyebrow. “Then what are you?” she inquired warily.  
Rabbit smirked. Now she decided to put up her guard. “Your arranged boyfriend,” he lied. To be honest, he wasn’t sure what Fox wanted them to be. The match would most likely fail anyway. There was no use in trying to make it work.

But perhaps they could try to be friends?

Rabbit dismissed that idea. Aside from Pearl, women weren’t the best option for confidants. Romantic emotions would get in the way of his whole operation. That was why Bear had dropped out of the hustling style he, Rabbit, and Fox used to share. Now Rabbit was the only one continuing it, and Fox was always off busy doing God knew what.

Unbidden, the shades-wearing man from earlier appeared in Rabbit’s mind. He tried to erase the feeling of déjà vu and—was it?—attraction he felt towards him. Those feelings were representative of a past he never wanted to go back to. Never wanted to remember. 

“Hey,” Angeline giggled stupidly, “you’re blushing. You must want to be my boyfriend, huh?”

Rabbit squeezed his eyes shut. Damn you, Angeline. 

“Depends, Miss Angeline. It depends,” he repeated, his voice strained.

“Are you in a lot of pain from the way down?” Angeline shot off next.

Rabbit shook his head, mostly to repress more awful memories of the things he did when he was younger. They weren’t despicable per se, but his actions angered his father and disappointed his mother. Whenever he attempted to press her for her thoughts on the issue, she refused to give her opinion.

“Honey, I love you no matter what you decide to be,” she had said firmly. And that was that.

Now, she and Papa were dead. After receiving news of it from Fox of all people that night, Rabbit buried his head in his pillow and cried silently. It was a relief to show some kind of tender emotion besides keeping his placid mask. 

Why did God have to take them away? Was it to punish him?

His new bride broke him away from his thoughts. Rabbit jumped at her hesitant touch on his shoulder. He tried to look away from the woman’s beady blue eyes, not wanting her sympathy.

“Was this a wrong time to do this, Rabbit?” she asked, her rough voice gentle. 

Rabbit remained silent, his eyes instead focused on the chandelier.

“I…,” the woman swallowed, “I can tell you’ve been hurt before. Hurt bad.”

Great. Now she would take pity upon him and act nice. 

“I know you will find this weird, but… y’know, if you want… you can tell me anything that’s on your mind. I’m a great listener, you see. And if you want, I can tell you anything you want to hear in return,” she offered sweetly.

Rabbit groaned. She was determined to have his heart, wasn’t she? “Believe me. I don’t need to hear any damn sob stories from you,” he said indifferently. “And what’s your name again?”

“Angeline,” the woman huffed. “Really, it’s not all that forgettable, hon.”

“Don’t call me that. Please. We-I don’t want us together,” Rabbit retorted, rubbing his closed eyelids. He was glad he had the strength to spit the words out at her. He didn’t want to be forced into relationships. His love energy was sapped out of him long ago. 

Was it that difficult to tell someone no?

Angeline sniffed as she ducked her head down miserably. “But, that Preacher said that you wanted it…,” she trailed off.  
Rabbit’s self-control snapped. “Well, he’s a goddamn fool and a liar,” he finally said. “If he thinks that this is what I want, then he doesn’t truly know me at all. Making somebody try to-to live up to your expectations won’t make them happy. Makes them damn near depressed and hateful of themselves.” 

As soon as the blunt words trickled out of his lips, Rabbit regretted them. Those were words he kept locked inside of him at all times. Words like that were powerful. The ones he had uttered to Angeline could mess up his whole persona he had created for himself. He couldn’t remember a time where he was able to act genuine.

Angeline sighed sympathetically. She held his hand briefly, but remembered what he said about touching. “I’m sorry to hear that,” she murmured. “Uh, if you mind me asking… why did Fox made you let him play matchmaker when you’re not interested in anybody? Are you a romantic or is that just not your thing? I mean, I can’t blame you. Romantics can be so overrated sometimes.”

Rabbit scratched one of his ears absentmindedly. Oddly enough, a part of him wanted to tell her about his past foolish mistakes. 

Should he?

No, Rabbit decided firmly. Developing emotions—amiable or romantic—for a woman could mess his whole operation up. One drop of his guard and his already shaky reputation would crumble in an flash. Which he suspected he’d done just that earlier…

But now, he would be stronger. More prepared. 

First, Rabbit aimed for a more casual approach to Angeline’s questions. “I agree with that,” he answered, much to the woman’s surprise. “I’m not a flowers and a box of chocolates kind of fella.”

Angeline gasped, covering her mouth excitedly. “So, what’s your style?” she giggled.  
Rabbit smirked. Excellent. She appears to be distracted. “I don’t have any particular kinds of styles,” he shrugged. “But whatever I find the right one, I just wing it. Make everything come naturally.”

That was only half-true. In the past, Rabbit had let his suitors sweep him off of his feet. All he did was make himself look cute and innocent to lure them in. 

His eyes roved over Angeline’s hair, making her blush. The straight, golden strands cascaded halfway down to her bare back. It reminded him of wigs he used to own before Fox made him throw them away. Rabbit’s favorite used to be a silver one. He especially liked the way it slightly curled underneath his chin. 

Angeline grinned at him, interrupting his thoughts.“Like my hair?” she asked, fluffing it. “I admit, it kinda needs a wash by tonight but I think I can survive.”

Rabbit nodded. “That’s correct,” he replied automatically. 

Angeline shook her hair and quickly ran her fingers through it.“It’s all full of dandruff and feels so oily,” she whined. “And itchy, too. I was trying not to scratch at it during my walk.”

“But you were comfortable enough to take your shoes off?” Rabbit asked confusedly.

“Now that’s different. My feet are very delicate. I thought I told your friend my shoe size is a seven. He got me a five instead.”

“Was he doing something else while he was talking to you? And as a matter of fact, how did y’all meet?” Rabbit frowned.

Angeline narrowed her eyes. “Weren’t you listening to his speech before I walked in?” she questioned.

“Obviously not,” Rabbit snorted. “But I had the gist of it.”

With a huff of impatience, Angeline explained to him what Fox was talking about.

Rabbit widened his eyes a little in spite of himself. “Oh, so you’re that prostitute, huh? Why I ain’t seen you around?” he asked.

The bright hue on Angeline’s plump cheeks darkened. “I’m not around black places much,” she answered awkwardly. “I just moved here, like, a year ago to get a sense of the atmosphere. I’ve always thought of becoming a writer if the… work I’m doing right now goes wrong. Or hell, if I get old and saggy then that’s all the more reason to quit, huh?”

Before Rabbit could ask any more questions, she hurried on. “Marty won’t care if I quit,” she assured him. “He’s already settled in the money game, thanks to you.”

Rabbit winced as he remembered who Marty was. The former pimp was another of Savior’s men. 

Angeline looked at him with concern, crawling an inch closer to him. “Do you and Marty get along decently?” she asked.

“Uh, yeah. Why you ask?” Rabbit snorted, trying to act nonchalant. 

Angeline moved closer to him and rested her blonde head on his stomach. She exhaled at how reassuring it felt, feeling the rhythmic sensation of it rising and falling with the rabbit’s each breath. 

“You just seem so unhappy when you’re among your friends,” Angeline murmured. “Unhappy and… angry with them.”

Rabbit quirked an eyebrow, but refrained from saying anything on the subject. 

Satisfied by his silence, Angeline closed her eyes and dozed off.

Rabbit idly played with the strands of her hair. He knew Fox was watching them somehow. If so, Rabbit would be in hot water by the time he came home.

If he made it home successfully.

He had slipped up too much this evening. How embarrassed and disappointed Fox and Bear would be of him. 

Rabbit nestled his head against Angeline’s as the tears began to flow.

Why was he crying? Crying was unacceptable in his predicament. Strong men never cried, his father had once told him after Rabbit had scraped his knees from bike riding as a child. 

He needed to be strong. Money never came if he sat there and cried. 

But it was so hard to please people he hated. 

But there was once a time where he pleased someone he thought he loved…

Rabbit forced that memory down, down into the depths of his heart. He was nothing but a puppet. Always had been, always would be. 

And no matter what, the puppet had no choice but to let its master pull on its strings to make it dance for the audience.

Though Rabbit’s strings felt tangled up from too much use over the years, he figured he had to do the same old routine for the crowd one last time.

“Only way out of here,” he whispered in Angeline’s ear, “is to have sex. No ifs or buts about it.”

The woman stirred slightly in her sleep. She yawned as her eyelids opened, joyful to hear that fact.

What a crazy girl, Rabbit thought. He struggled not to make any objections as she laid against the cushions and opened her legs wide open.

The expectant opening of the legs reminded him too much of Miss America. 

Rabbit pushed that memory down as well. He was lucky enough to not be swayed by her charms. But right now, he had a bride he needed to pretend to woo.

As he got set to work, Rabbit could see his days of having puppet strings coming to an end.


End file.
